December 30, 2022 - Two years ago, the devastating Banovina earthquake struck the Sisak-Moslavina area of Central Croatia. How well has the state done in tackling the consequences? Horrifically poorly, according to many...

The SECOND anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Banija came with the dissatisfaction of the victims, but also of the participants in the reconstruction, which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković called "unbelievably slow," writes Index. Though we briefly covered the complex topic in A Week in Croatian Politics, read along for a more detailed overview.

Two years ago, on Tuesday, December 29, at 12:19 p.m., the area around Petrinja was hit by a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.2, followed by a series of other earthquakes. The earthquake took the lives of seven people, leaving behind sad scenes of destroyed houses, commercial facilities, and public buildings in Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and surrounding towns.

Many citizens from all over Croatia came to the aid of the residents who lost their homes in an instant on the same day, collecting and donating food, preparing meals, and clearing the ruins...

Citizens themselves brought food and other necessities in their cars, numerous volunteers and groups of younger people with shovels were seen in the earthquake-affected area helping the local population clear the terrain.

Two years later, the consequences of the earthquake are still apparent in many unrenovated houses in numerous villages and in Glina and Petrinja, where the reconstruction of the city centre has not started, but scaffolding and work on the first of 26 buildings are expected early next year.

In the area of Glina, 700 containers have been placed in which people from houses with red and yellow stickers (poor state of the buildings) are still waiting for structural renovation or replacement houses. Among them are people who do not have their own properties, so they are waiting for some other suitable accommodation.

In the Petrinja area, which has lost 5,000 residents since the last census, many people live in container settlements and containers next to their houses. Currently, about 1,600 of them are in the entire city and 212 in three container settlements.

The residents of the destroyed homes are dissatisfied because most of them are still waiting in containers to return to the renovated houses. The completion of the renovation of the houses is not yet in sight, though, as there are still many bureaucratic windmills left to fight. The government members are dissatisfied because the planned structural renovation of houses and the construction of replacement houses and residential buildings has not gained the expected momentum, despite the amendments to the Law on Reconstruction from October 2021, in which great hopes were placed.

Plenković's recent statement that the reconstruction of Banija "is going unbelievably slowly" fueled speculations about the resignation of Minister Paladina, who took up his post in March after the resignation of former Minister Darko Horvat. However, Paladina claimed that the "unbeleivably slow reconstruction" statement did not apply to him and was misinterpreted. The statement refers, he clarified, to the fact that the structural renovation of houses and buildings and the construction of replacement houses are not progressing at a sufficiently high-quality pace, which he has been saying for months.

"Only when we start renovating 100 houses a month we can be satisfied. I've been saying this for more than three, four months. The Prime Minister's statement refers to that part of the renovation that must be accelerated," he said.

Number of houses built in two years - 6

Only a few were lucky enough to return to their homes because, so far, the state has secured that all of six replacement houses are built in the entire county. Another 109 are currently under construction, while 16 multi-apartment buildings are under construction as part of the competitiveness and cohesion operational program.

Not a single building was renovated in the organised structural renovation, and the Central State Office, responsible for that county, completed the public tender procedure for 50 structural renovations.

According to statements from the area, most buildings were renovated thanks to donations. For example, in the area of Glina, 45 buildings were bought or built from donations, while the state has so far built six houses in the entire county, of which only one is in the area of Glina.

In the Zagreb area, which was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale on Sunday, March 22, 2020, at 6:24, 25 structural renovations are underway, while 14 structural and 2227 non-structural renovations have been completed.

The renovation of public buildings is going better. From the Solidarity Fund, which is open until June 30 next year for the reconstruction of public buildings, 10 percent of the amount was realised in March, and now that share has risen to 40 percent.

Claims were submitted for compensation in the amount of HRK 2.6 billion.

New measures tackling numerous obstacles

Obstacles in the renovation of houses are numerous, from complicated "paperwork" and the application process to the lack of labour, rising prices of construction materials, and property-legal relations.

At the end of July, the Ministry adopted a new Program of Measures for the Reconstruction of Earthquake-Damaged Buildings, which improved the model of financial assistance, i.e., self-renovation, according to which the property owner who opts for the self-renovation model assumes the choice of the contractor and supervision. It also allows the owner to ensure the creation of the architectural design.

The most significant measure is the payment of advances to users who cannot provide their own funds. For example, for the first phase of self-renovation, an advance payment for the costs of creating a project for structural self-renovation of houses, as well as an advance for the execution of works worth 25 percent of the financial aid, is possible, while for buildings, the payment of the entire amount of financial assistance is possible.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

ZAGREB, 20 May 2022 - The European Commission has granted Croatia an extension of the deadline for using money from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for the repair of the earthquake damage.

"Today, the Commission has decided to exceptionally grant Croatia the possibility to extend until 30 June 2023 the deadline for the use of the financial contribution from the EU Solidarity Fund to compensate for the damage of the earthquakes that severely hit the country in 2020 and 2021," the Commission announced on Friday.

Croatia has been allocated over €1 billion from the Solidarity Fund to remedy the damage caused by the earthquakes that struck Zagreb in March 2020 and Sisak-Moslavina County in late December 2020 and January 2021. The usual deadline for the use of funding is 18 months, and in this case, it expires in June this year.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in February this year, after which it was announced that the deadline would be exceptionally extended for a year. The Commission has never before extended the usual deadline.

"Croatia was hit twice by strong earthquakes, first in Zagreb and then in the city of Petrinja and the Sisak-Moslavina county. All of that happened during the first wave of the Covid pandemic, considerably hampering the recovery efforts. Ensuring that Croatia can fully benefit from the financial support from the EU Solidarity Fund for the reconstruction of the two regions is of utmost importance for the population and a sign of strong and concrete solidarity by the European Union," said Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 26 April 2022 - The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency TIKA has donated 250 humanitarian Ramadan packages for Sisak Islamic citizens.

TIKA vice-president Rahman Nurdun presented the packages on Tuesday to the president of Sisak's Merhamet charity, Šaban Kadrić. Nurdun commended TIKA's office in Zagreb and its leader Sedef Bulut for its prompt response in the wake of the 2020 earthquake and the wish to help residents of Sisak and Sisak-Moslavina County as much as possible.

"Turkey is one of the first countries to have provided assistance when Sisak and its environs were struck by the devastating earthquake, sending 200 housing containers and a large number of humanitarian packages to this area," Kadrić said, expressing gratitude to Nurdun.

"The diversity of our city enriches every aspect of our lives," Sisak Deputy Mayor Marko Krička said, noting the positive and long-lasting business cooperation and friendship between Sisak and TIKA.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Croatian MP Milorad Pupovac and the director of the Bosnian Serb entity's secretariat for the displaced and migration, Davor Čordaš, on Tuesday signed an agreement on the construction of houses for Serb families whose homes were destroyed in the 2020 earthquake in Croatia's Banovina region.

The agreement is worth HRK 6 million and envisages the construction of ten prefab houses, to be made by the Steco factory in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The agreement was signed in the Bosnian Serb entity's capital of Banja Luka.

Prior to that, Pupovac held talks with the entity's prime minister, Radovan Višković, telling the press he expected the houses to be delivered by the end of the summer.

ZAGREB, 6 April 2022  - Health Minister Vili Beroš on Wednesday opened a renovated operating block at Zagreb's Children's Hospital, noting that it was the first reconstructed hospital block in Zagreb since the 22 March 2020 earthquake, an investment worth HRK 26.2 million (€3.5 million).

"The reconstruction of the hospital block proves the government and ministry's strategy to help in the recovery of health institutions' capacity", the minister said.

The block, which consists of two fully equipped operating rooms, was fully renovated with funds from the 2014-2020 Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion and a Health Ministry budget reallocation of HRK 10.6 million.

"The reopening of the operating rooms and restoring the accommodation capacity of the Children's Hospital is the first significant step in the recovery of the city's medical capacity since the earthquake", hospital director Goran Roić said.

Minister Beroš announced other similar projects in the Zagreb medical system.

As regards efforts to deal with the consequences of the 2020 earthquake, based on a public call by the Health Ministry for the allocation of grants, contracts have been signed so far with 60 institutions, established by the state or the City of Zagreb, worth HRK 2.3 billion.

Of that amount, HRK 850 million comes from the European Solidarity Fund and HRK 1.45 billion from other sources.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

For more, check out our lifestyle section. 

ZAGREB, 1 April (2022) - Minister Tomo Medved, who is at the helm of the national post-quake reconstruction team, said in Glina on Friday that so far over 1,900 family houses had been rebuilt or renovated in the earthquake-hit areas of Sisak-Moslavina County.

In addition, over 900 houses are currently being reconstructed, and project documentations for 3,000 buildings and structures have been prepared, said the minister.

Over 500 contracts have been signed for the construction of houses that will replace the demolished properties, he said adding that the builders tasked with constructing blocks of flats in Glina, Petrinja and Topusko have been selected.

Sisak-Moslavina County Prefect Ivan Celjak, who accompanied the minister during his visit to Glina, said that the reconstruction of six facilities within the Psychiatric Hospital in Popovača would soon start.

He also presented plans for funding the reconstruction of the buildings within the hospital complex in Sisak.

Medved and Celjak today visited the renovated and upgraded community health centre.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 10 March 2022 - A 3.2 magnitude earthquake was registered near Petrinja at 1410 hours on Thursday, Croatia's Seismological Survey said.

The tremor was felt in the wider Petrinja area as well as the nearby city of Sisak.

For more news about Croatia, click here.

21 February, 2022 - Representatives of UNICEF and the Sisak-Moslavina County association of persons with disabilities presented the results of a support programme for disabled children in Petrinja on Monday.

The earthquakes that struck the region in late December 2020 damaged the premises used by the association and called into question the provision of the necessary support for children and counselling for their families.

Thanks to HRK 367,368 (nearly €50,000) in aid, about 100 children with disabilities will be able to continue using therapy services at the Little House, and the six professionals working with the children and their families will stay in their jobs.

The head of UNICEF Croatia, Regina M. Castillo, said that their focus was always on the most vulnerable children and that they would continue providing support. 

UNICEF's ambassador in Croatia, Bojana Gregorić Vejzović, said that the value of what UNICEF was doing could particularly be seen in crisis situations when the most vulnerable children could be left out of focus. "We must not let them be forgotten."

Last year, the Little House organised 2,459 work therapy appointments, 1,336 sensory integration appointments, 798 physiotherapy appointments, 4,562 individual consultations with parents and guardians, and other services.

ZAGREB, 17 Feb 2022 - Croatia's Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Gordan Grlić Radman, on Thursday thanked the Bavarian State Minister for Federal Affairs and Media, Florian Herrmann, for the assistance this German province had extended to the earthquake-hit Sisak-Moslavina County.

"We consider this gesture a sign of great friendship and solidarity between Croatia and Bavaria," Grlić Radman said after their meeting in Munich.

Last year, Bavaria sent to Croatia over 70 tonnes of construction material, dozens of container homes, packages for children and other aid to help it deal with the aftermath of strong earthquakes that struck Sisak-Moslavina County, central Croatia on 28 and 29 December 2020.

The two ministers said that Croatia and Bavaria fostered very close political, economic and cultural ties, and Grlić Radman noted the role of the sizeable Croatian community in the largest German province as an important factor in maintaining bilateral relations.

Herrmann, a member of the Christian Social Union, reiterated Bavaria's support for Croatia's aspirations to join the Schengen area and the euro zone. Grlić Radman informed him about the situation in the Western Balkans, notably in Bosnia and Herzegovina where talks on the reform of electoral legislation have reached an impasse.

Grlić Radman will talk about this matter later in the day at a panel at the 57th Munich Security Conference. The conference formally opens on Friday, and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is due to attend on Sunday.

Apart from Grlić Radman and Herrmann, the panel on the Western Balkans will also be attended by the international community's High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, US Special Envoy Gabriel Escobar and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Bisera  Turković.

 For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 11 Feb 2022 -  A magnitude 3.8 earthquake was registered in the Banovina region at 0733 hours on Friday, Croatia's Seismological Survey said.

The epicenter of the tremor was near the village of Donja Budičina, 5 km south of Petrinja.

For more news about Croatia, click here.